second thing but i will do it tomorrow. i have to apologize to the producer for the o'reilly factor for yelling at her and to just about everybody else that i know because i really hate the holidays. >> group hug. don't forget to set your dvr and don't miss an episode of "the five.." this is a mox news alert. i'm bret baier in washington. congressional leaders have agreed to a new budget deal. it will limit the cycle of standoff and shutdown threats but there are concerns about spending. house and senate budget negotiators are set to unveil the agreement any moment. you are looking live now on capitol hill and we'll take you there live as soon as they step to the podium. in the mean time mike emanuel is standing by live at the capitol with some details. >> good evening. they are calling it the bipartisan budget action of 2013 and it has been between patty murray in the senate and paul

ryan, the republican in the house. and they've been going back and forth about the precise spending levels an how to pay for it and there have been some anxiety about the idea of adjusting the budget control act from 2011 which actually capped spending and a lot of republicans say that was an accomplishment they held high on their list and so this would adjust the budget control act for the next two years, give more flexibility for the appropriators but some have raised the concern in terms of restoring funding now for some programs and the idea of paying for it later. and so it will be interesting to see how ryan and murray handle questions about that. we know from republican sources they are planning to post the language of the deal later tonight. so lawmakers in the house can get a look at it and their counterparts in the senate as well. buff the bottom line, we expect the house will go first. the rules committee will prepare the bill sometime tomorrow. we expect that would set up for a vote in the house on thursday. and then perhaps after that,

bret, it would go to the senate. >> mike, there is the thought that neither party has the stomach to go through any painful back and forth to hold this up. but it is not a done deal. you still have to have votes. >> reporter: no question about that. and i've been talking to a lot of members on both sides of the aisle to get a sense of what they feel about it and they have been cautious because they want to see the precise details because they have heard different things floating out there but how you pay for it, like a fee being tacked on to airline ticket and some people say, well isn't that really another tax. and so it will be interesting to hear exactly how they sell the pay-fors and whether the pay-fors are kicking it down the road for spending now. but there are also democratic concerns in terms of they want an extension of unemployment insurance benefits due to run out december 28th as part of this deal as a -- with a price

tag of $25 billion. and they are looking at federal employee benefits and you have democrats around the washington, d.c. area, maryland and virginia, so if you need votes, a lot of them were expressing their federal employee constituents bearing the brunt of this. some want to reserve judgment until they get a look at the fine text. but there was some anxiety on both sides of the aisle. >> mike, stand by, if you would. we're waiting for representative paul ryan, republican to wisconsin and patty murray from washington. the government rubbing -- runs out of spending authority in january. and we have national view online, and national public radio and columnist george will. george, this seems at least how it is being described, and again we are waiting for details, as a modest proposal. it is not a big deal.

>> very modest in the sense that exempting as it does all entitlement spending, which is all of the federal budget, it can't change the trajectory of the budget but mr. ryan has been neg associating from a position of strength and weakness. the sequester is law, cutting down spending to $91 billion. but on the other hand the democrats know what we all know. there are two groups of republicans in the house caucus, both of which are larger than the margin of the budget. people on the appropriations committee and don't like the fact the fun has been taken out of their life by the sequester. the other are the defense republicans. somewhere between 30 and 50 of them vote primarily on defense and they cannot stand, they say, another sequester cut, half of which coming from the 17% of the

budget that is defense. so there has been a shaky group behind paul ryan and he has to try and satisfy them. >> to that point, and i said neither part your has the stomach, you have republicans still hurting politically from the shutdown but frankly democrats are hurting big-time from obama care. >> oh, yeah. >> and neither party really wants this to blow up january 15th. >> you know how civil wars end when both sides are too exhausted to go on, that is what is happening here. not only is this not a grand bargain that attacks the titles of the entitlement, this is a tiny deal. both sides were exhausted from the fight and there is another dirty little secret here. remember when republicans demanded entitlement cuts, neither of them want that. democrats don't want to raise taxes in an election year and republicans don't want to cut

entitlements and they don't want to alienate voters. they are not in the mood to fight out the big issues and they setted for the tiny little nibble. >> and a lot of lawmakers will there is another factor. there are an enormous number of people on the right for luking for an -- looking for an excuse to kill this. the heritiage reaction group. >> the other group on the other side. >> a lot of them are outside of government, the ted cruz caucus. and this is a moderate deal. nobody is going to say they held their manhood cheap if they weren't part of this. and other factor -- another factor is mitch mcconnell loves the sequester, considering it one of the shining accomplishments of his career and if this blows up the sequester in exchange for some cuts in oin out years that is just enough to see the whole

thing fall apart on the right. >> if that happens, then what? >> then we have another -- that is part of the problem. i think that barack obama and harry reid still think that the government shutdown was a big political bound for them and i think you could see a lot of fighting. >> but you would have to have democrats be willing to jam republicans, refuse to make the cuts to federal woerkz, to d -- workers and to dare republicans and i don't think the republicans want that. i think the appropriators and the defense hawks are more. >> we are still waiting for news conference to start. and let's bring in ed. president obama was at the memorial today. how much input was in this process and it was said on

capitol hill, there is not a lot of juice that the president has. >> at the staff level, they say top white house officials have been working behind the scenes to make this happen. but as you say, the president is out of the country and doesn't get back until 6:00 a.m. tomorrow and he will see this as a positive development because it will take off the threat of another shutdown and default and all of the other stuff that has been weighing on the economy, that he's been complaining about. that should be off the table for sometime. so they'll see that as a positive. but on the negative sign of this -- side of this, when you ask about his juice, he taking republican senators out to deal, saying he wanted to get a budget, one of his legacy items, and he is left with a mini bar at best. >> and is there hope at all of taking this big bargain before he leaves office or are we looking at this small bite of the apple that takes it really to the end of his term? >> there is -- they are hopeful they could do more here at the white house but it seems highly

unlikely that he will get anything bigger than the bite-size deals at this point. republicans are waiting for this 2014 mid-term elections and they won't give this president too much in terms of a bigger budget deal. unlikely to give him immigration reform and any other major legacy items so insteader dealing with the smaller deals, as you say, but also still implementing health care reform which is a bear for him and is likely to continue that way for some time to come. >> stand by. we are being told there is a little delay. we think the deal is still in the works, but a little delay. while we wait, we're going to turn to the other big news today. president obama's job approval rating has hit another new low tonight. the latest quinnipiac poll shows just 38% of those surveyed like what the president is doing. 57% do not. just 40% are in favor of the president's policy on iran. 48% are not. that is from quinnipiac tonight. this comes as a tug of war plays

out here in washington over the islamic republic and its nuclear program. president obama is pulling one way and republicans and fellow democrats in congress pulling another. james rosen has more. >> reporter: i can assure you the iranians are listening to this hearing today. >> and if they were, they heard america's top diplomat tell the house foreign affairs committee that imposing additional sanctions right now would cost them the support of russia and china and strengthen the hand of those in iran the most hostile to the west. >> people in intel community will sit and tell you, and i urge you to get briefed on it, who will tell you the whole school of thought in iran, the hardliners who welcome the idea that the united states might whack them, because they think they will be heroes in the street. >> both sides of the aisle shows

misgivings about the deal in geneva last month. they cited the fact that six security council resolutions now on the books make it illegal for iran to continue making uranium. >> if it is enriched to 5%, you are still 70% there toward the way of making a bomb. they could at least stop enriching while we are negotiating with them and i don't think that is too much to ask. >> the u.s. allies will negotiate with iran consistent with practical needs. >> what are the practical needs? to have some medical research maybe? to feed enough fuel into a legitimate power program which may be done in consortium with other people, with intrusive knowledge of what is going on? >> i can't tell you they might

not have some enrichment but i can tell you to a center, it will about the -- certainty that it will not be able to turn it into a weapons program. >> despite the continuing human rights case, why the case of the iranian american pastor subjected to torture and beatings wa not -- was not raised in the negotiations. kerry said he has to make tough decisions about what affects what but kerry added he has raised the case directly with iran's foreign minister, bret. >> james, thank you. we'll talk about the iran issue later with the panel. we're just under two minutes now, as you look live at the radio tv gallery up on capitol hill. bring back in our chief congressional correspondent about this deal. you know, mike, there was a lot of cloak and dagger, if you would. because this committee, the conference committee, house and senate conferrees didn't talk

about how this deal was coming together. they didn't tell a lot of the details, even to fellow lawma r lawmakers. >> reporter: that is right, bret. and some members will tell you quite candidly that they were not involved in a lot of the talks. this came down to mattie murray -- patty murray representing the democrats in the senate and paul ryan representing the republicans in the house and so a lot of the discussions were one-on-one while congress was out of town perhaps over the thanksgiving break and they talked about different numbers, what can we set spending at, how can we pay for it if we set spending at this level now, what if we pay it down long-term down the road and so bottom line, a lot of this was negotiated one on one. >> mike, let's take a listen to ryan and murray. >> senator murray and i have reached an agreement. we've been talking all year. and this week that hard work of the two of us sitting down and talking to each other all year has paid off. first, it started because we passed budgets.

and senator murray deserves credit for passing a budget to the senate. that got the ball rolling so that the two of us started talking. and the reason we're here tonight is to explain what we've agreed to. this bill reduces the deficit by $23 billion and it does not raise taxes and it cuts spending in a smarter way. from the outset, we knew that if we forced each other to compromise a core principle we would get nowhere and that is why we decided to focus on where the common ground is. and so that's what we've done. that means to me a budget agreement that reduces the deficit without raising taxes and replaced the around terrorory -- the arbitrary across the board spending cuts to pay for this relief. the house budget reflects our ultimate goals, it balances the budget within ten years and pays off the debt but i realize this is not going to pass in this dividended -- divided government. in divided government, you don't always get what you want.

that said, we can still make progress toward our goals. i see this agreement as that kind of progress. it is a step in the right direction. and so the arbitrary cuts, we make smart, targeted reforms and eliminate waste, stop cutting checks to criminals an we start to make real reform that were drivers of the debt in the first place. i think the agreement is a clear improvement on the status quo. this agreement makes sure that we don't have a government shutdown scenario in january and makes sure we don't have another government shutdown scenario in october and makes sure we don't lurch from crisis to crisis. it allows congress to finally exercise the power of the purse. we're both from the legislative branch. the constitution says that the legislative branch should exercise the power of the purse and we want to reclaim that from the administration. and this shows we can work together to get our government

functioning at its very basic levels. that, we think, is a step in the right direction and gives us some kwfds and -- some confidence and brings normalcy back to our government. i want to take a moment to thank senator murray. she's a tough and honest negotiator. she has fought tough and hard every step of the way. i want to commend her for her work. all of the summary in the contempt will -- context will be placed on our website by the end of the night. and with that, i'll offer senator murray. >> for far too long compromise was considered a drty word, especially over the budget. over the years we have went from crisis to crisis and from one cliff to the next. and when one count down clock it wasn't too long before the next started. that was fragile to our democratic recovery. the constant crisis caused --

cost us billions of in jobs and forcing our families an communities to pay the price. so i'm very proud to stand here today with chairman ryan to announce we have broken through the partisanship and gridlock and reached a bipartisan budget compromise that will prevent a government shutdown in january. our deal puts jobs and economic growth first by rolling back sequestration and harmful cuts to medication and medical research and defense jobs for the next two years. now i know there were some people who thought the cuts should continue but i'm glad that we increased these key domestic investments and we averted the next round of schedule cuts to military programs, bases and defense jobs in our country. this deal builds on the 2 $.5 trillion in deficit construction and that sequestration shouldn't be replaced with spending cuts

alone. this bipartisan deal will help millions of americans who are wondering if they were going to keep paying the price for d.c. dysfunction. from the workers at our military bases and construction projects to were furloughed or laid off to the kids who lost their slots in head start programs to the seniors wondering if they would have meals on wheels, to the families who are praying for halted medical research programs to get back to work on a cure. and so much more. because of this deal, the budget process can now stop lurching from crisis to crisis, by setting bipartisan spending levels for the next two years, this deal allows congressional committees to proceed under regular order and give government agencies and the companies that do business with them the certainty they need to hire workers and make investments. this isn't the plan i would have written on my own. i'm sure that chairman ryan wouldn't have written it on his own. and there are obviously differences between our parties when it comes to our budget

values and priorities. i was disappointed that we wshts able to close even a single corporate tax loophole. i know many republicans had hoped this would be an opportunity to make some of the kinds of changes to medicare and social security they've advocated for. but congress mab ryan -- congressman ryan and i have set aside our differences. we compromised to get something done. this doesn't solve every issue in front of congress. we made a conscious decision as chairman ryan said in the few short weeks we have had to focus on where we can agree and not get bogged down in the larger issues that while important will not get solved right now. but we need to acknowledge that our nation has serious long-term fiscal and economic challenges. this deal doesn't address them and our budget process has been broken. many people believe that congress is broken. we have spent years scrambling to fix artificial crises while our debt piles up and the middle class continues to crumble.

we have budget deficits that have improved but they have not disappeared and we have deficits in education and innovation and infrastructure that continue to widen. we know we need comprehensive tax reform, comprehensive immigration reform. there is a lot more for congress to do. so this deal doesn't solve all of our problems but i think it is an important step in helping to heal some of the wounds here in congress, to rebuild some trust and show that we can do something without a crisis right around the corner. and dom on straight the value in making our government work for the people we represent. so when all of this is done, i am very proud to stand with chairman ryan or anyone else who wants to work on this bipartisan foundation to continue addressing our nation's challenges. nothing is easy here but i know the american people expect nothing less. i want to take a minute to especially change chairman ryan. he and i do have some major differences. we cheer for a different football team.

clearly. we catch different fish. we have some differences on policies. but we agree that our country needs some certainty and they need to show that we can work together and i've been very proud to work with him. i also want to thank congress man volen who has worked very hard to help make sure this deal reflects the values that he cares a lot about and all of our budget conference committee, everyone involved on the committee has been working very hard to get to this deal. so i'm hopeful we can get this bipartisan deal through the house and through the senate and get home in time for the holidays but i think everybody deserves this share. [ inaudible question ].

>> well, look at a conservative, i think this a -- this is a step in the right direction. what am i getting out of this? dit reduction. so the debts will go down more by passing this than by doing nothing. there are no tax increases here. and point number three, we are finally starting to deal with auto pilot spending. the mandatory spending that has not been addressed by congress for years. this isn't easy. this is the first divided budget agreement since 1986. the reason we haven't done a budget agreement when both houses were controlled by other parties is because it is not easy to do. so we are not going to get everything we want, and she won't get everything she wants [ inaudible question ]. >> i think we will pass this to the house and we'll go first given our schedules in the house, we will post this on our

website today, this evening and we intend to bring it to the house floor later on this week. i have every reason to expect great support from our caucus because we are keeping our principals. the key is here nobody had to sacrifice their core principles. our principles are don't raise taxes an reduce the deficit. and we have concerned members about defense. the next hit from the sequester would hit solely on the military, starting in january. a lot of our members were concerned about that. so what we are doing here is providing for some sequester relief for 2014 and for 2015. and we are paving for that with more permanent reforms on the auto pilot side of the spending ledger, in excess of the sequester relief which results in the deficit reduction. that, to me, is a greet deal. >> representative paul ryan and senator patty murray announcing this budget deal, both of it calling -- both calling it

modest, it is a step in the right direction. it is bricking back some normalcy. cutting back $23 million from the federal deficit and there is a $17 trillion national debt. but let's bring back our panel. what we know so far of the details, your thoughts. >> well so far, $23 billion is a rounding error on the debt, the the economy. it is trivia. but what is not trivial is not the politics. it just couldn't be that the anti-establishment house may rally around this partly because paul ryan has such credibility with his own caucus and send it over to the senate where mitch mcconnell, from the republican establishment, votes against it, because as you said, the sequester is his baby. he got it into the budget control act of 2011, he's running on that in part against

some tea party challengers in kentucky so you could have the establishment in the sense of resisting the house. >> mark, liberals are not happy that the deal does not include an extension of benefits for unemployed workers between 26 weeks. it comes to an end december 28th. >> right. what we understand is that speaker boehner is open to the idea of having a separate bill that would extend those unemployment benefits. >> after the new year. >> after the new year. and that that would be the way democrats could get an extension. a lot of them said they didn't want to vote for this deal unless they had an extension so there is talk about how to get both things done on a separate track. about this deal, i think they actually passed a bung. the fact we have to applaud that is unbelievable but it is a good thing. they are actually doing their job. >> so everybody knows, the house passed one, the senate passed one and there was a conference -- >> finally they were forced to

have a conference after the shutdown, but they were resisting the conference committee for a long time. but we heard two very different things. paul ryan said this deal cuts corporate welfare. patty murray is disappointed because this deal does not close any corporate loopholes at all. i don't know which one is correct. paul ryan said it begins to reform some mandatory programs. but he didn't say how and i thought entitlements were off the table. so there are questions about the deal and we have to go through the fine print. >> there are many differences between the two beyond their height. >> and that is a big difference. >> jonah, your thoughts. >> i thought it was striking. you had paul ryan talking about where his priorities are, he talked about his principals, getting back to regular order and the constitutional role of the power of the purse and restraining the debt. you heard patty murray talk about a laundry list of clients of the state who need money. and that in essence gets you at

the difference between the republicans an the democrats today and their philosophical approach. but at the beginning of the panel, i think there is one incentive for barack obama to agree with this. he is free falling at the polls. and part of it is the chaos sense in washington and if there is the sense things are getting a little bit back to normal, we will get some credit for that by being there and being -- not the head of a crazy house but the head of something working the way it is supposed to. >> the chaos produced this agreement. this committee is the product of the agreement to end the government shutdown and to get past the debt ceiling. so out of chaos came some order. >> the debt ceiling, by the way, is still out there. the deadline is in february. we have to diesel with that at some -- we have to deal with that at some point too. >> couldn't we end on an up note. >> panel, i'll have you back in a few minutes. next up, president obama calls in the calvary to fix the

obama care mess.

sfoo president obama is reaching outside his comfort zone of close visors for help in recovering from the health care fias fiasco. we bring back ed henry on a familiar name. >> this man seeks out amusement

parks because he is a big fan of rollercoasters and now he has a new one, digging the president out of the health care mess. he might find out whether this move is window dressing or if the president is willing to break out beyond a tight amount of advisers who botched the rollout of his initiative. >> this is good and i'm sure you can add a lot to the discussions but in the end it boils down to one thing and that is barack obama. >> and even republicans who praised peddesta are warning the health care trouble is more than just a p.r. issue, the problem they have is a fundamental one that is not a communications issue, it is a substance issue. >> they brought in the elder for one year and it may buy time for mcdonough and others like kathleen sebelius who have faced

heat like robert gibbs demanding someone be fired. there has only been the addition of peddesta and shapiro, who has brought back to deal back by the push of both parties to change the law. yet the president has had rocky relations with congress and republicans mock the idea that shaking up the staff may help sell an unpopular law. >> the problem here is the substance of his number one issue, the issue he wanted to be most associated with is a failure. and no amount of shifting the chairs around on the titanic is going to solve that problem. >> the white house continues to push back by touting benefits such as vice president biden today announcing $100 million targeted to increasing access for mental health services. but the washington post said the new law is limited drug coverage for those with hiv and other

diseases. >> we mentioned the quinnipiac poll down to 38% and democrats has a poll from pew to 30%. correspondent peter doocy tonight on how the spanish version of the obama care pitch compared to the english one. >> early this morning, just a week and a half after the white house promises healthcare.gov would be working for a vast majority of users, there was this. access denied, the system is down. at one point after 30 seconds on the page where a new queue manages traffic, an inturnal error filled this screen with code, code that does not help consumers get covered. most working pages at the website feature a link to the spanish website, which closely

mirrors the counterpart, including the error messages. but overall the spanish wlaeng site performed much better than healthcare.gov. >> the survey shows a quarter of latinos prefer to have their information in spanish. whether they speak english or not, they prefer to have it in hispanic. >> the launch of the website was delayed by more than two months and some say latinos noticed. >> i think there is a sense of frustration and negligent that they feel, just like on the issue of immigration, it is almost systemic how this administration has marginalized and shoved them to the side. >> but the site may not be the biggest problem. new research on allin ensure -- uninsured americans, those without health insurance are more than twice as likely as the general population, 15%, to report that they haven't heard of the new health insurance exchanges.

latinos are the largest demographic of uninsured americans and a h.h.s. spokespersons person said they will ramp up the drive spanish speerkz to the -- speakers to the website. they are enrolling at a rate five times higher than whites. >> if latinos get their coverage, it will make a difference overall for the affordable care act in the next year. >> the administration says there are por than 10 million uninsured latinos and so far they have received 139,000 spanish laung calls -- language calls. i reached out and asked why the spanish site is performing better than the english site and i am still waiting for a response back. president obama eulogized

nelson mandela. and the handshake that raised some eyebrows. that is next.

test test test test test test test test

president obama is urging the world to embrace nelson mandela's universal message of peace and justice. the president was one of nearly 100 world leaders in south africa today to remember one of the political icons of the 20th century. senior foreign affairs correspondents is in south africa tonight. >> it was one of the biggest memorial in recent decades. heads of government and celebrities from around the world came to pay respects do nelson mandela at a massive gathering. >> i welcome all of you. >> they joined tens of thousands of south africans who converged on a huge soccer stadium in johannesberg. the crowds were smaller than expected. those who came were

enthusiastic. >> we are celebrating our father who led us out of oppression. >> u.n. secretary banky moon. >> we join together for a mighty celebration of a mighty life. >> president obama seemed to get the most attention, greeting on his way to the podium, long time adversary raul castro. mr. obama called mandela the last great liberator of the 20th century. >> his struggle was your struggle. his triumph was your triumph. your dignity and your hope found expression in his life, and your freedom, your democracy, is his cherished legacy. >> former president's george

bush, clinton and carter were also in attendance. but south africa's president jacob zuma was less well received. he was greeted with many boos from the crowd and wagging his public opinion that his party had hoped to get a boost from the event. in his speech at the memorial, president obama told the crowd we will never see the likes of him again. the public here will have one more chance to see nelson mandela when his body lies in state and burial on sunday. >> greg, thank you. as he just mentioned, president obama's handshake with cuba's leader made news immediately. many said it is just a handshake but it was being interprelted in -- interpreted in different ways in communities that watch any signs about cuba very closely. steve harrigan is in florida tonight. >> reaction to the handshake between president obama and raul

castro has split miami's cuban americans along generational lines. for some, the anger is red hot. >> the president of the united states is shaking hands with a terrorist. >> but for many cuban americans born and raised in south florida, the handshake was a diplomatic in a much bigger picture. >> our president has the responsibility of treating everybody very diplomatic. we are not going to politicalize anything about the death of nelson mandela. >> it comes when alan gross, charges with espionage, is starting his fifth year in a cuban prison. critics say a friendly greeting with raul sends the wrong message. >> i worry that raul castro regime will use it as a propaganda coup and what message does that send to the dissidents? they say, boy, i'm being thrown in jail and the guy who throws

me in jail is shaking hands with the president of the free world. >> yet the president's message in johannesberg included pointed remarks that may have been pointed at castro and other leaders in attendance. >> there are too many leaders that claim solidarity with the struggle for freedom but do not tolerate it from their own people. >> president obama is not the first u.s. president to shake hands with the communist leader of cuba. bill clinton and castro shook hands at a luncheon in 2000 with no cameras president. a handshake the clinton administration denied happened. >> steve harrigan in miami. thank you. it was a day for pictures of the president. the president leaned in for this selfy with david cameron of britton and the president of the netherlands. the mirror newspaper notes to the right, the first lady michelle obama does not look too amused. a fox news reporter will not

be forced to reveal her sources or go to jail for a story about last year's colorado theater massacre. new york's top court ruled today that jana winter is protected by the state's shield law. it refused to recognize a colorado court's effort to force her to testify on who told her about a note book sent by james holmes to his psychiatrist. fox news chairman and ceo roger ales said it is not just about this channel. >> today's ruling is a major win for all journalists. the protection of jana winter's confidential sources was necessary to preserve and protect journalism and democracy itself, in my view. so the highest court in new york did the right thing. >> more snow and wintry weather here in washington and much of the northeast tonight. many federal workers and school children were given the day off. snow accumulations of up to six inches expected in baltimore,

philadelphia and wilmingtonton. flight delays were reported in philly, newark and new york. the dow lost 52 today, the s&p 500 was off six, the nasdaq dropped eight. the carrot or the stick? what will it be for iran? we'll see what the fox all-stars think when we come back.

our partners in europe and in china and russia see us go off and we're hammering in a way that, you know, runs contra to the agreements we've made, it really is very difficult for us to hold the thing whole. we're asking you to give our negotiators and our experts the time and the space to do their

jobs. we can pass sanctions in a week, if you are lobbying for them. but if you are -- has every administration has, if you are trying to prevent them, you are asking us to be asleep and do nothing while 9,000 centrifuges turn and created. >> secretary kerry up on capitol hill today in front of the house foreign affairs committee trying to sell republicans and democrats to hold off on iran sanctis, to give the administration some space. this as quinnipiac we brought you the overall approval ratings on the top of the show. iran, the polls show negative approval as far as the issue of iran, 40% approving, 48% on the handling of the president's situation in iran. voters are divided on the latest agreement to limit iran's nuclear weapons, 44% supporting the agreement. 46% opposed. let's bring back our panel

jonah goldberg national editor of national review online. marah and syndicated columnist george will. joanna, secretary of state is essentially doing a sales job up there. >> i think it's a kabuki theater kind of thing. the fix is in on this. hear reid is not going to led anyone pass amendment. must-pass bill which must restore sanctions. in return, he is letting democrats beat the dickens out of the administration over the issues. it's sort of a win-win for democrats. they get to seem like they are skeptical, protect themselves on the issue while giving the administration what it wants. >> there is real concern about democrats leaving the administration's side on this. we're just getting word from state department sources that secretary kerry along with the treasury secretary jack lew will brief the senate behind closed doors on the issue of iran. tomorrow afternoon behind closed doors. tomorrow, all members invited. they are trying to rally the

troops here. >> they're working really really hard. what, you know, you heard senator schumer a bunch of other prominent democrats say they wanted to keep, tighten the sanctions regime as incentive for iran to make a deal. >> this is essentially saying in six months, if congress sets up these sanctions, that if iran doesn't meet up with this interim deal that the sanctions would be passed by congress. >> right. >> and iran is saying if you do that the deal is over. >> right. it's unclear if iran really would walk just if there are sanctions somewhere out there in the future. they know if they walk that's going to happen anyway. but, right now, i think as jonah just said. democrats have all the space they want to take the politically popular position, which is to be as anti--iran as they can. meantime, i think the administration has succeeded in buys itself some time. it's not going to be on the floor to be voted on. senator johnson in the banking committee says he is not going to be bringing it up any time soon.

we are running out of time this time anyway. they have bought themselves some time to see if this deal is worth continuing. >> they're not going to embarrass the president of their own party. second we have negotiating parties here. we can't unilaterally as a nation say to the four or five, i guess, others we are going on our own way. beyond that the critics of the president's agreement say he is naive about the ability of the iranian regime to change. so are they. they are the ones to say if we are really tough they will give up on insays tent on the right to enrich uranium. there is nothing in the last 10 years indicates the slightest inclination on the part of iran to change. but. >> but for the democrats who say they would vote for the sanctions, do you think harry reid eventually, theylet's same some time would go by would bring up for a vote in the democratically controlled senate? >> i don't think so. and it's pointly for him to

do so. the president could veto it or we know about this president he would just waive them were they passed because there he would be on firmer constitutional ground with lots of precedence to waive things in the interest of national security. >> so, is this all theater, jonah. >> i think it's theater going a ways back. we were told and the media bought into it wholesale that this is an opportunity that arose out of rouhani's election. great reformer who was elected. we now know thanks in part to james rosen's reportings and questions at the state department that there were secret meetings three months before the election and in many ways the rouhani election arose from the opportunity of the secret negotiations with the obama negotiation rather than the other way around. they are on track. they are pursuing something. i think it will fail. i know george is convinced that containments is the least worst option. he may be right. the idea that they're going to prevent iran from getting a nuclear weapon i think is one thing that at least

george and i can agree on will happen. iran is determined to get one. track that john kerry is on where he said today in six months will be proved either i will be right or you will will be right. we will know. >> the election, he was it is still the supreme leader to makes the choice. >> right. it's also true that the sanctions regime has really really hurt iran. they wouldn't be at the negotiating table if that happened. the supreme leader wanted somebody who was not extremist like iraq -- iraq men. people were rejoicing as if this was the biggest thing ever because it was going to make their lives better that some of these sanctions will be lifted and they won't be so isolated. they want the new president to deliver economic relief by lifting these sanctions. >> this administration wants a deal. >> it does want a deal.

and because it has little success anywhere else it was interesting the sound bite we had of the president saying in south africa that some of the leaders here are not really abiding by the mandela values. that's more than he found the nerve to say when the green revolution was in the streets in june a few years ago in iran. >> that was the best way to stop the nuclear program and we missed it. >> that is best for the panel. stay tuned for something that i guarantee will make you smile.

finally tonight in our busy lives we forget how important the small things can be, precious moments. i guarantee you this will make you smile. all it takes to get this baby girl going is her mom, a dog, and a few bubbles. [giggles]

[giggles] >> you should see what happens when i bring out the bubbles here. thanks for inviting us into your home tonight. that's it for "special report," fair, balanced and unafraid. greta goes "on the record" right now. this is a fox news alert. a budget deal on capitol hill. house budget committee chair paul ryan and senate budget committee chair patty murray hammering out the two-year agreement. if passed, it would avoid a government shutdown on january 15th. in just a few minutes congressman paul ryan will be here to go "on the record." right now there is a doctor in the house but not for long. obamacare is trampling all over him, how? family doctor joins us. good evening, sir. >> good evening to you. >> let me start first with a copy of the ad you put in the newspaper saying that you are shutting down your business why did you put